It is exciting moving to a new home, and especially exciting moving to a new town. It’s a little scary, too. Turning the page to a new chapter is all part of life; the exhilaration of a fresh start with new opportunities and possibilities, along with the nostalgia for the parts of your world that inevitably must be left behind. 

When you pack all of your worldly belongings into a moving van, whether you are going across town to a new neighborhood or across the country to a whole new city, and you take that last walk around the old place with its bare walls with nail holes where family portraits once hung and where imprints on the carpet are the last traces of your time there, you realize that walls and a roof do not make a home. Still, when you walk out for the last time, it seems like you are leaving a little bit of yourself behind in the echoes of the empty rooms. 

The new house, on the other hand, is a blank slate, a notebook full of clean white paper on which you will continue to write the rest of your story. It’s a story of progress and promise and the future. Still, it is only walls and a roof and not yet a home. 

Last year, Troy and Wendy Brooks packed up their home in Covington, Ga., and made the move to the 501 when Troy took a leadership position with the Conway Regional Health System. They chose a stately home in Conway’s established Pippinpost neighborhood; a well-appointed home with classic styling on a tree-lined street where strolling neighbors are quick to shoot you a wave. It has been the perfect place to settle into a new adventure. 

Wendy began unpacking and arranging her family’s furniture, artwork and personal effects in the new place and the house began to take on some life. Family photos found new places of prominence. Prized and sometimes hard-earned furniture that had been collected over the years nestled nicely here and there. 

There is always a point when moving into a new house, when you have about half of your stuff moved in, that you start feeling pretty good about your new space. It is neat and clean, filled with just the things you need and love, and without any clutter. 

Then the other loads come and the realization sets in that some of the furniture and décor that might have worked just fine in the last place just don’t work with the new style or colors. Things are way too big or too small, or you just don’t have a space for them at all. 

Wendy called on local designer RaeLynn Callaway to help her furnish their new home with a look and feel that was befitting the style of the house. “RaeLynn had worked on a recent renovation of this house for the prior owner,” said Wendy. “She did such a great job that we knew we wanted her help updating and freshening up the look. 

“We have had our dining room furniture for 25 years. It is very nice and in great shape, but it just didn’t work in our new home,” Wendy said. “We considered buying new furniture but we hated to give up the dining table that we had raised our family around. RaeLynn proposed having the furniture refinished to give it a more up-to-date look and she brought in WaterHouse Market to do the work.  I had been drawn to this certain shade of blue for the dining room china cabinet and I know that I couldn’t have found a piece that color in a million years. We started there and chose a complementary lighter blue for the table and chairs, accented with shimmering pewter edging.” 

RaeLynn selected new upholstery for the dining room chairs and added two new captain’s chairs in gorgeous dark blue velvet. The old dining set with its dated finish was just too formal for the new space, but the new painted finish gave the pieces a more casual and contemporary look that worked great in the new space. 

The Brooks family has settled into their new community and they are enjoying their beautiful new home. For the holidays, Wendy and Troy and their family gathered around the same old family table, just like they have for the last 25 years, but this year they were joined by friends from their new hometown, blending new and old traditions and making their new house into a home.